So why not a Bentley or Rolls Royce like many assumed?
So by now, we all have heard the tragic news of the passing of Queen Elizabeth II and while the world mourns the loss of the second longest ruling monarch of 70 years, her final ride being in a Mercedes Benz, left many feeling puzzled.
While many assumed the queen would have been transported in a Bentley, Rolls or even a Defender (being British brands and all, it seemed like the natural choice), however, her majesty’s hearse was Mercedes Benz car, more accurately, a Binz H4 based on the E-Class sedan. So what is a Binz H4?
Well, Binz is a German coachbuilder founded in 1936 which began as a coachbuilder and now also constructs ambulances, funeral bodies and horse-drawn carriages. In the 1950s, Binz worked together with Mercedes Benz to create four-door estate versions of their cars.
The car used to transport her royal highness was a Mercedes Benz W212 E-Class that Binz modified and increased the wheelbase and rear deck giving the car a new overall length of 5999mm, but why? Why not “sapot lokal” and have the queen be transported in a British branded car?
The short answer is, I don’t really know, the longer answer and my guess is probably that the royal family already had the H4 Binz on standby and it would have taken some time to get a modified version of any British car that could serve this purpose, so it was more convenient to just go with what they had.
Or perhaps the royals decided it was time to challenge the local British saying “the berk in the Merc,” which in the UK is a common phrase that is used on certain drivers who own a Mercedes Benz that typically drive in a dangerous and arrogant fashion due to the prestige of the badge on their car.
Whatever the reasoning is, the queen is not likely to be forgotten anytime soon, and I for one am still shocked from the news despite it already being a few days now. I am also fairly confident that the choice of hearse brand used in her highness’ final ride will also be talked about for many more months.
